Murder retrial under way in teen's '02 disappearance

March 26, 2013|By Amanda Marrazzo | Special to the Tribune

Brian Carrick, who was 17 when he disappeared in 2002. (Handout)

Johnsburg teenager Brian Carrick was a good kid but "not a very good marijuana salesman" and was in over his head when he "disappeared from the face of this Earth" more than a decade ago, a prosecutor told a jury Tuesday.

"All that is left of him is his blood ... smeared all over the crime scene," said Michael Combs, the lead criminal prosecutor for McHenry County.

Prosecutors are trying for the second time to prove that Mario Casciaro, who worked with Carrick at a Johnsburg grocery store, was responsible for Carrick's presumed death after Casciaro and another co-worker, Shane Lamb, confronted Carrick about a drug-dealing debt. The store, Val's Foods, was the last place Carrick was seen alive, and blood evidence matching Carrick was found there.

Defense attorneys argued that, because Carrick's body has never been found, there's no evidence to show how he might have died.

During his opening statements at Casciaro's second murder trial, Combs acknowledged that his witness list includes "a sordid cast of characters." But he said they will tell a consistent tale that proves Casciaro is guilty of first-degree murder with intimidation.

Combs said other witnesses are expected to testify that Casciaro made statements such as "Brian is gone" and "I make people disappear."

Lamb, a convicted felon who received immunity from prosecution and leniency in another case in exchange for his testimony, again took the stand Tuesday. As he did at Casciaro's first trial early last year, Lamb admitted he threw the punch that likely killed Carrick inside a walk-in cooler at the store. Lamb said that was after Casciaro asked him to confront Carrick about a $500 drug debt.

But defense attorney Brian Telander said Lamb lacks credibility because of his immunity deal and because he has told various versions of what happened that night in 2002.

"He will say anything that helps him," Telander said.

Telander said that although it is "most likely" that Carrick is dead, there is no body, and therefore no evidence to show how he died or who killed him.

The defense attorney also urged jurors to pay close attention to the blood evidence, which he said will show that another co-worker, Robert Render, also was in the produce cooler where Carrick is said to have been killed.

Witnesses also will say they noticed Render had been gone for about two hours that night and then reappeared and was seen by the cooler with a mop. He later had another co-worker drive him home and said Render made statements in the car about having blood on his pants.

Render will not take the stand, though. He died of a drug overdose last year.

Lamb's testimony is scheduled to continue Wednesday.

This is the third time Casciaro has faced a trial in the case. He was charged with perjury in 2007 and accused of lying about Carrick's disappearance. He was acquitted. Then in 2010, Casciaro was charged with first-degree murder in Carrick's death. But when he went to trial in early 2012, jurors couldn't reach consensus, and the trial ended in a mistrial.